Same Lovie stance as Bears open camp: 'I'm very confident'

To no one's surprise, Bears coach Lovie Smith's glass was half full during his training-camp-opening address on Thursday.

Even with an offense looking to rebound from a disappointing 2009 season and having to learn the complicated playbook of new coordinator Mike Martz, Smith accentuated the positives.

"I'm very confident," he said. "As you talk with our football players, I think you're going to get the same message. A lot has been said about our offense and how hard it is. Are (we) going to be able to get it before the season? Our guys have picked up the offense well. Jay Cutler has good command of it, the receivers and all the way down the line."

Health-wise, the news was all positive, with all players expected to participate in this afternoon's first practice at 3 p.m.

"We shouldn't have any issues with any of our players as far as injuries are concerned," Smith said. "We should have a full group out there ready to go."

That includes center Olin Kreutz, who had off-season Achilles tendon surgery; middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, who suffered a season-ending dislocated wrist in the first game of 2009; and defensive tackle Tommie Harris, whose practice time has been severely curtailed the previous two seasons by knee and hamstring injuries.

Harris' play has been a major disappointment for the past two seasons since his third straight tip to the Pro Bowl after the 2007 season. So Smith was asked specifically about Harris' ability to practice on a regular basis.

"Like I said, all of our players are ready to go, and when I say 'ready to go,' I'm talking about practicing every day," Smith said. "We'll adjust guys as practice goes along, which you normally do in training camp, but Tommie went through every off-season workout and every OTA practice. He's healthy. We're not talking about his injuries anymore. It's all in the past."

Because Smith's teams have missed the playoffs the past three seasons, his name has frequently been mentioned as one of several NFL coaches who have to make the postseason this year to keep their jobs. But he said he isn't feeling any more pressure than he has in his six previous seasons with the Bears.

"I feel the same pressure every year," he said. "The pressure to win the Super Bowl, that's what we feel right now. The pressure to put the best team we can on the field the first game, and the pressure to have a good practice every day, no more than that. But that's enough right now."

Quarterback Jay Cutler, looking to bounce back from a league-worst 26 interceptions last season, says players want to win for Smith.

"Lovie's one of the best coaches I've been around, and I know that everyone on this team has a great amount of respect for him, as he does for us," Cutler said. "He treats us well, and certainly guys who have been here longer than me definitely have a lot of ties with him and want to go out there for him and play well. Because you never know what's going to happen this year if we don't go out and perform, (you don't know) if Lovie gets to stay or not. That's definitely a question that's in the back of everyone else's mind. But we can't worry about it. We've got to go out and just play hard. If we do that, I think everything will take care of itself."

• For up-to-the-minute Bears happenings check out Bob LeGere's twitter account at BobLeGere and his blog at dailyherald.com.